Weekend Ar(t)s: For one reason or another, Stan Lee keeps working

Mr. Marvel has a new Web series and a fresh round of people examining his past.

During the weekend, even Ars takes an occasional break from reminiscing about early computer advertising or analyzing the Oracle v. Google results. Weekend Ar(t)s is a chance to share what we're watching/listening to/reading or otherwise consuming this week.

Stan Lee talks with Jane Espenson.

Not many octogenarians remain active enough to host a talkshow, but not many octogenarians have Stan Lee's resume.

Lee's a name that needs no identifiers. Along with Jack Kirby, he co-created an unreal number of iconic superheroes for Marvel Comics: X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Thor, the Hulk, superspy Nick Fury, and currently in-vogue villain Loki. (Editor's note: by no means is that list complete). Lee served as a head editor at Marvel and became the brand's primary ambassador over the years. He was one of the first individuals pushing comics to movie studios. Without Lee, it's safe to say The Avengers wouldn't be smashing box office records. It wouldn't even exist.

His legacy is what makes this most recent project interesting—going on 90-years-old, Stan Lee still does regular work. His latest project, Cocktails with Stan, is a weekly Web series in which Mr. Marvel (along with cohost Jenna Busch) interviews notable names from the world of pop culture. The series premiered two weeks ago with Jane Espenson (writer for Battlestar Galactica,Buffy, and more) and Colin Ferguson (star of Eureka) joined Lee last week. New episodes appear each Friday.

The fanboy inside sees this as an awesome addition to an already crowded landscape. There are a lot of outlets for an interview-based talkshow (daytime and late night TV, Web series, podcasts, radio shows, etc.) but not many can claim a host with Lee's oeuvre. This new project may be a reflection of his hope to remain engaged with the creative world, to give a boost to professionals he admires, or to simply talk with individuals he finds fascinating (the ideal purpose of a talk show, right?). His consistent Stan Rants offer him the platform to wax poetic on topics he chooses—as does seemingly any interview he agrees to—but this entity is Lee stepping back to do the work, not take the spotlight.

The cynic inside? Well, Lee's complicated history has been well documented and The Avengers brought about an opportunity to revisit it. His relationship with Jack Kirby renewed a discussion about content creators versus those who receive the ultimate credit within the industry (see Grantland, Comics Alliance, Slate, etc.). If the number of people questioning Lee's motives and abilities grow louder, Cocktails with Stan could represent a response. Continuing to work proves his genuine ability and starting new projects draws attention away from past happenings. Win-win.

Fans will never know everything about what went down between Lee, Kirby, and Marvel just as we'll never know why exactly Lee continues to embark on new projects. Maybe it doesn't matter. Marvel will continue to use hero-likenesses associated with the duo while legal or political battles happen in the background. And Lee will keep finding new outlets. And as long Cocktails with Stan remains entertaining—based so far on the small sample size, it's a weekly watch—perhaps intentions are less relevant than product.

I see that the Stan Rants link takes you to his YouTube channel, but why isn't there a link to the Cocktails with Stan playlist or the worldofheroes main page? Here's the playlist, for those interested.

"Lee's a name that needs no identifiers." - sorry never heard of him, I don't read comic books....

You must really have your head in the sand. Even people who never read comics know the name, just like people who don't listen to metal have heard of Ozzy Osbourne.

I'm pretty sure I can find plenty of people who don't know about Ozzy Osbourne. People born after his successful years and who are not into shitty American pseudo-"reality" TV shows are likely to not know about him.

And not all geeks are into American superhero comic books. This may come as a shock to you because of all the stereotypes on "nerds" == "comic book fans" but some of us have zero interest in them.

Has anyone ever asked him who is in charge of screwing up the ideas that worked so well in the 60's?

Galactus as a CLOUD?...

As a wee Marvel Comics geek from a young age, and long time admirer of Mr. Stan Lee and Jack "King" Kirby, I feel the pain over this.

The FF was the flagship publication during the 1960s, and that's where a lot of the creative imagination really shined, from characters such as Galactus and the Surfer, to the Watcher, to Blackbolt and the Inhumans, and so on and so forth.

The Hollywood/Marvel movie collaboration on the FF characters is not terrible, but they have let the celestial grandeur of the FF series slip quite a bit.

So, yeah, they screwed the whole presence of Galactus as a character in the FF firmament up, and let a lot of us down in the process.

Has anyone ever asked him who is in charge of screwing up the ideas that worked so well in the 60's?

Galactus as a CLOUD?...

The reason Marvel's movies have been so much better is that with the exception of Spiderman, they've taken over the production since garbage like FF and FF2.

Most of Stan's creative work over the last 20 years has been terrible, web interviews make more sense.

Hollywood (in general, no studio specifically) has a nasty habit of screwing everything up. I suspected, simply by watching the movies and not by doing any research, that Marvel has had more say in the more recent films. Thor, the hulk, and recently the avengers were amazing in my opinion.

there's a good chance I could get banned from the forums for even bringing up this movie, but Doom is a great non-marvel example of how Hollywood can take an amazing story with amazing screen potential and use it to inflict unspeakable horrors on anyone with a sentient cluster of nerves in their skull. Imagine what Doom could have been if Micheal Bay and Ridley Scott had worked with Id's writers and art crew? It could have made Aliens look like Saturday morning with Cheerios.